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Gates Chili Central School District

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Help shape Gates Chili's future

Posted Date: 10/28/25 (4:00 PM)
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Help shape Gates Chili's future 💡

Over the last several years, our district has worked diligently to plan for the future in ways that best support students and staff. Recently, several factors have come together that require a more thorough look at the district, so we are well positioned to sustain strong support for years to come.

You may have heard about likely growth in our community. Within the next three to five years the Town of Gates could see a new development with about 142 single-family homes and 200 rental units near the Italian American Community Center and Manitou and Buffalo roads.

Separately, we face several facility and capacity-related realities. We have an upcoming state-mandated Building Condition Survey that will inform future capital work, and space is tight at our elementary schools due to increased student supports and services. While we value our continued partnership with BOCES, over the last few years, regional capacity in some programs has been reduced. We are also assessing where in-district programmatic options should or can expand. Finally, many districts are examining or modifying start and end times. We will monitor those efforts while focusing this study on understanding our own needs.

Planning now helps us prepare thoughtfully. That’s why we are launching a long-range planning and optimization study. The goal is to position Gates Chili for the next five to 10 years by aligning facilities, programming and operations with projected student and community needs, and by generating data-informed considerations for the Board of Education and our community.

As we begin this work, we want to center the voices of students and families. 

This is the first phase of a longer effort. We are partnering with Leadership Solutions Advisers (LSA) to facilitate the process. Their team of longtime educators will lead engagement activities, gather and synthesize feedback and data, and support an advisory committee that will review findings and help shape recommendations. Every conversation will connect to three areas of exploration:
  • Educational experiences
  • Organizational capacity
  • Financial sustainability
We are looking for broad community participation in this first phase. LSA will be holding focus groups on the following days and times (with the first one coming up in the next few weeks). Your participation will only be needed on one of these dates:
  • Wednesday, Nov. 12 from 4-5 p.m.
  • Wednesday, Dec. 10 from 4-5 p.m.
  • Wednesday, Jan. 14 from 4-5 p.m.
If you are interested in participating in a focus group, please click here to complete the interest form by Thursday, Nov. 6 at 9 p.m. to indicate your availability. Please note this is only an interest form. We will use responses to build balanced groups across roles and buildings. Additionally, please note students will have a dedicated opportunity to participate in focus groups during their school day.

Throughout this process, LSA will also be inviting all families to participate in several community ThoughtExchange surveys. The first one is coming next week so be on the lookout for that in the GCCSD E-Newsletter.

We are looking forward to engaging with you throughout this process. Thank you for your ongoing partnership and support of our school district.